Augustus D. Allen, 1859-19--

My maternal great grandfather is quite an enigma.  Information about him is plentiful, but some of it doesn't jive.  It's almost as though there are two Augustus D. Allen's at the same place, same time, same career, with the same vital statistics.  Sometime before 1904, Augustus left his wife Eva a widow and his daughter, Ethelyn, an orphan.  Yet he is documented as living and working in Wichita for another ten years, with a new wife.

The following timeline shows his name exactly as it appears in the documentation.  Facts about Eva and Ethelyn/Teresa are interwoven to reveal insights about his life.  I believe that this timeline supports the fact that the same A. D. Allen who left Eva a widow, is the A. D. Allen who continued living and working in Wichita as though his first wife and child never existed.

Augustus "A. D." Allen

Augustus D.Allen > Teresa/Ethelyn Allen > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

1860

Hancock, Illinois - Augustus, 1 year old.  
Household at the 1860 Census:  Parents -  Robert Allen, born in Virginia; Elizabeth Allen, born in Ohio. Siblings -  James & John (twins) b. Ky, Sarah b. Ky, Jacob b. Ky, Harrisson b. Ill. Note the birthplaces of his parents and of his older siblings.

1870

Hancock, Illinois - Augustus, 11 years old.
Household at the 1870 Census:  Elizabeth Allen, b. Ohio; John, Jacob, Harrisson.  Again, note his mother's birthplace.  His father must have been deceased.  His siblings' names are consistent with the 1860 census.

1870 Littleton, Illinois - Eva Bosworth, age 3.  O.M. b. Ohio, Eliza b. Ky, Richard R. b. Ill.
1880 Littleton, Illinois - Eva Bosworth, age 13.  M.O. Bosworth b. Ohio, Eliza A Bosworth, b. Ky.

1883

Littleton, Illinois - Augustus D. Allen married Eva L. Bosworth.
Parents: Robert Allen, Elis. House, Orlando Bosworth, Eliza A. Applegate. Parents' names are consistent with prior census information.

1893

Illinois - Ethelyn Allen born (per 1900 census).
         A. D. Allen moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and ran a mercantile business for 7 years.*

Augustus D. Allen, Ethelyn,
Eva L. Allen

1900

Wichita, Kansas - Augustus D. Allen, Real Estate Agent.  Parents born in Kentucky.  Augustus consistently gives his parents' birthplaces as Kentucky.  Since Augustus' older siblings were all born in Kentucky, he may have made an erroneous assumption.  Household at census:  Eva L. Allen, Ethelyn Allen (age 7), Eliza A Bosworth.  Eliza Bosworth died around this time.  A. D. Allen was first employed with the Kansas Bureau of Immigration on Douglas Avenue, and then with B. D. Allen Realty.* There was a huge real estate boom in Wichita at this time. I do not know whether or not B. D. Allen is kin.

From Wichita newspaper articles:
1900
A. D. Allen & Eva L. Allen were defendants in a lawsuit over a mortgage loan.

1901
A. D. Allen was injured in an accident involving runaway horses & overturned carriage.

1902 
A. D. Allen, Mrs. Allen were victims of a burglary while sleeping at their residence on Pattie Avenue, an $85 roll of bills from a real estate sale was taken from his pants pocket.  Mrs. Allen had been ill.

1902
A. D. Allen sold property at 137 Pattie Avenue and bought another local property.

1902 Wichita - an "A. D. Allen" moved to Wichita from Allen County - no occupation given.  I believe this is a coincidence...I found another Augustus D. (Dennis) Allen (1860-1930) who is buried in Allen County.

1903
Mrs. Allen gave A. D. Allen a birthday dinner on March 21.  Her brother R. R. Bosworth's family was there, as well as Ethelyn Allen.  Ethelyn would have been about age 10.

1903
A. D. Allen went on a business trip to Iowa; returned with 11 men to buy land. B. D. Allen took over the sales.

1904
Wichita City Directory - Eva L. Allen, widow A. D. 125 Fannie Street.

Augustus Allen is dead.  Or is he?

1905
Wichita - A. D. Allen married Emma Schindler of Wichita.*

1907
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1027 s. Water Street.

1908
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 s. Main; with B. D. Allen Realty.

1908 Hospital at Old Fort Supply admitted its first patients.  Oklahoma's first mental hospital.

1909
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 S. Main.  A. D. Allen Real Estate and Loans, 121 E. Douglas Avenue.

1909
Wichita newspaper articles - A. D. Allen, president and champion of horse show; Fred Willingham, trainer. Article on A. D. Allen tells about his "two fads" - real estate and horses.  A. D. Allen made two good real estate sales.  The interest in horses is what made me wonder if this was the same Augustus D. Allen that was Ethelyn's father - my grandmother never mentioned this about him.

1910 Census, Woodward, Ok - Eva L. Allen, widow. Inmate, Old Fort Supply Hospital. 

1910
Wichita -  Augustus D. Allen, Emma S., Fred Willingham.
Census:  Real Estate Agent. b. in Illinois, Parents born in Kentucky. 

1910
Wichita newspaper article - A. D. Allen, defendant in a lawsuit over real estate; another article about trip to South Texas.  His daughter, Teresa/Ethelyn, remembered a visit from her father in Paris, Texas - this may be the occasion.

1911 Old Fort Supply Hospital cemetery -  gravestone inscription: "Eva L. Allen, 1867-1911."

1911
Wichita City Directory - Augustus D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 S. Main; 121 E. Douglas Avenue.

1911
Wichita newspaper article - Mrs. A. D. Allen is better from pneumonia.

1915
Dallas City Directory - Augustus D. Allen, real estate. 912 S. Akard, Dallas, Texas.

1916
Wichita personal ad - person looking for A. D. Allen, last seen in Fort Worth (near Dallas) headed toward Canton, OK in October 1915.

1916 - Sherman City Directory - Teresa Allen, nurse, St. Vincent's; 416 W. Laurel.
1917 - Paris City Directory - Teresa Allen, nurse, Paris Sanitarium through 1919; 125 Pine Bluff.  

1919
Wichita personal ad - This is the most compelling evidence thus far that Teresa is the same person as Ethelyn:

TO ANYONE knowing anything of A. D. Allen, formerly a real estate dealer, would appreciate all information. Teresa Allen, 125 Pine Bluff, Paris, Texas. 

1920 Census, Oklahoma City - Teresa Allen, nursing professional.  Boarder, Eleventh Street. Parents born in Kentucky.

Note about Augustus' grave:
I found a promising entry for Augustus D. Allen on findagrave.com some months ago, but when I went to look for it again, it was gone.   The grave was in Osawatomie Cemetery, Paola, Miami County, Kansas, and the date of death was 1916.  It is no longer in the database.  It was there, and now it's not.  Weird.

All of this has made me wonder...

• What made Augustus move to Iowa in 1893?
• Did Augustus and Emma divorce?  Where was he between 1911 and 1915?
• Why didn't the R. R. Bosworth family take in Ethelyn?
• What happened to the findagrave entry for Augustus?
• Where was Eva L. Allen between 1904 and 1908 (before the mental hospital opened)?

Sources:
*History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 705 & 706 [NOTE:  this bio on A. D. Allen does not mention either Eva or Ethelyn, but the birthdate and place are the same, though the birth year is six years off - March 21, 1865.  My grandmother, Ethelyn/Teresa, never mentioned that her father was passionate about horses.]
          
Newspaper sources:  Wichita Beacon, Wichita Daily Eagle